Choking deaths on food in the US

As the American hummus market has grown from a Mediterranean curiosity to a 900-million-dollar industry, choking deaths on food have risen with near-perfect correspondence. The coefficient is 0.992, which sounds like hummus is a choking hazard and absolutely should not be interpreted that way—hummus is, by definition, a smooth paste that is perhaps the least chokeable food in existence. The dip is smooth, the correlation is smooth, and neither is doing what you think it is doing.

Hummus market revenue grew from about 200 million to over 900 million dollars between 2005 and 2021, driven by the Mediterranean diet trend and the snacking economy. Choking deaths rose with the aging population. Both are smooth upward curves. Hummus, being a puree, is actually recommended by speech pathologists for people with swallowing difficulties—making this correlation not just spurious but ironically inverted. The food that correlates with more choking deaths is actually prescribed to prevent them.

Seventeen years of hummus and choking deaths is a correlation that is not just spurious but actively ironic: the food rising in perfect correlation with choking deaths is one of the safest foods for people at risk of choking. The hummus is smooth, the coefficient is smooth, and the distance between the two is the entire field of food science. Dip responsibly.